So You Want To Make An Oc?
by Spark Plug x
Summary: This is just a really quick and simple guide with a few tips on how to make yourself and original character/fan character. I'm no expert, but I've been around the block for a while, so I have a grasp on what I'm doing. If you have any topics you want me to go more in depth about, let me know.
1. Chapter 1

**Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays to you all! I guess this sort of like a Christmas presents, sort of, because many of you have messaged me about your own characters and how to make them better.**

**Today I will be giving you tips and tell you how to make your OC super badass! **

**PLEASE LET IT BE NOTED THAT I AM NO EXPERT, AND YOU MAY DO WHATEVER YOU PLEASE. THIS IS JUST A SORT OF TUTORIAL FOR THOSE WHO NEED ASSITANCE. **

**God this is going to be really messy and I am so sorry but I'm scatterbrained. **

**Also, this is really kind of quick and to the point. I will be more than happy to write chapters that center around any topic you want me to write about (like getting more in depth about looks or personality). Just leave it in the review and I really don't mind writing a chapter.**

**Honestly I will probably be writing chapters on a lot of these topics, because, hey, this shit is difficult. It's hard to make a character (a good character). **

**It's important to go in depth, but, you never realize how…difficult it is to write a simple guide until you decide to do it. So, most likely I will write more in depth chapters, just tell me what you'd like me to write about! (even plot or things like that)**

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Today the characters I will be using are as followed:

Benjamin Youngblood – Harry Potter

Xavier Hōshakuji (Later his last named is changed to Labelle, his mother's last name) – Ouran Host Club

Natalie Chem – Pokemon

Cassius Rushton – Pokemon.

Now, as I stated before, I am no expert on the making of OCS/FCS. I have, however, had my share of creating them. I probably have, honestly, over twenty, including side OCS and such. I've had bad ones and really amazing ones.

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_**First, Before we get to basics, we're going to discuss a few points before you even start to think of your super cute and fun OC!**_

**Do not make your OC a self-insert.**

What does this mean? This basically means, do not insert yourself into the story. Do not make your OC just like you. Of course, add parts of you into your character, to make them relate to you. The characteristics I put into practically all of my characters are that they are usually blonde, like myself, they love cookie dough ice cream and red velvet cake, and they tend to be sarcastic. Those are just the main points. It's weird, but, that's just how all of them are.

Your OC shouldn't be you. You can be like your OC, but not a copy. Pick a few points and roll with it.

**Now to Basics**

So you want to make an OC, yeah? Alright then. What's the fandom?

Picking a fandom is a huge part. This dictates what realm you're in, what you can do, and your character. Once you pick a fandom, you can move on.

**So, you picked your fandom. Now what? Well, how a gender, name, looks, background, family, talents, flaws, qualities, personality? **

In this huge world, those choices are difficult. **Genders** man… Most of my characters are boys, why? Well, I like to write boys, and I'm good at them. My friend, also my BETA reader, usually picks girls, because those are what she is good at. So, pick your gender (or make them unisex, it's your story homeboy)

**Name.** Names are so important, but gee, can you pick a non-Japanese name? I understand much of these characters will be for an anime, but, your character doesn't always have to have a Japanese name. None of mine do, at all. I just don't like them all the time, though I know why sometimes you would give them a Japanese name. Just be unique. Naming the character can happen at any moment in this process, it doesn't have to happen first. I like names that sort of flow:

Xavier Caspian Labelle. Natalie Arcadia Chem. Benjamin Grant Youngblood.

How about **looks**? Now I'll tell you right now, red eyes are overdone. If they are a mythical creature, go for it, but no human character should have red eyes unless they are albino. The whole, red eyes, black hair, pale skin, is overdone and needs to stop. Otherwise, looks are all you. Though, please try to avoid size two girls that have huge boobs. That's unrealistic. Stop. Natalie is about a size 6-8, and she has a chest that is average for a girl her size. Yuukio, my friend's character, is a model. She's tall, thin, and flat as a board. That fits her body very well.

To help with looks, I just…it depends. You need to factor into what your character likes to do (athlete maybe?) and kind of build from there.

Sometimes it's best to look at pictures of celebrities. Benjamin looks like Sam Claifin when he plays Finnick from the Hunger Games. Cassius has hair that sort of resembles Jack Barakat's, except the colors are reversed. Looking at art work can really help to.

Remember, you can change what they look like. Throughout your story, they change grow their hair out or get more muscle or grow a few inches.

**BACKSTORIES! The hardest part of a character, and I'm roping this in with family.**

Do not do the over used: Family is all dead, family hates them, family treats sibling better, etc. I'm telling you this, because these are hard families to do. They come off very mary sue, but if you can do it and not make it the whole character, do it.

When you do a background, you can keep it simple. They can come from a loving home. That's good.

Cassius comes from a loving home. Yes, his parents had to move to a different region for work, but he stayed with his grandpa who loved him dearly and got to speak to his parents on a weekly basis.

Benjamin comes from a huge, but loving family. Technically, two, since his parents divorced and remarried. He has four younger siblings (technically six but he doesn't see two of them much), that he cares for during the summer, so he's very maternal and protective.

Xavier's parents are extremely different. His father is very tight shipped and wants to control Xavier' life, while his mother is carefree and just wants him happy. This later causes them to divorce and Xavier, whose been at a boarding school in England since he was ten, to basically snap. He tries to find comfort in anything, mostly drinking and sex, and begins to spiral down. He's depressed, but he doesn't full grasp it. He knows something isn't right, but he can't figure out how to fix it.

So, as you can see, there's so many types of families and back stories you can do. I want to get more into my characters, but, they are in current stories and that would be spoiling a lot.

A background is important, and so is the family. It makes the character who they are, but, remember, the character you start with doesn't have to be the one you end with. Backstories are just the start. They are the base layer of your character.

Natalie Chem starts off as cold and distant. She's very blunt and she doesn't hold back. As her story unfolds, she becomes paranoid, quiet, and anxiety filled, but she learns from this. She comes back strong, still blunt, but she's more open with how she feels. She undergoes character development, which is MY FAVORITE THING.

I love _character development_. EVERYONE SHOULD. YOU NEED THIS. YOU NEED YOUR OC TO LEARN FROM MISTAKES. Am I saying change your complete character? Nooooo. I want them to grow. I want them to learn and to thrive and to become a better, or a worse, character. Character development opens so many doors, but just imagine yourself when you were….thirteen. Are you the same as you were back then? No? Good, you went through some character development. Good job.

**Talents, Flaws, and Qualities. **

This is the hardest part I believe. How to make your character…realistic.

Let's start off with a talent. Give them one, no more than three. Now, talents and skills are DIFFERENT.

Benjamin is a metamorphmagus. This is, a witch or wizard that has the ability to change his or her appearance. You are born this and it is not a skill you can learn. This, to me, is his ability and or talent. He is an amazing metamorphmagus, and because of this, he is good at transfiguration, which is, basically, making one object into or another and along those lines. (I'm so sorry if you don't know Harry Potter this must be confusing).

So, that's his talent. Now, he can also draw/paint. Why? Well, this sort of goes in with his background. His grandmother is also a metamorphmagus as it is a thing that can run in the family, and it runs in his family. She took care of him most of his life, because he needed to learn how to control his ability. He didn't have many other kids to play with, so he drew. He learned his talent and continued with it.

See how they worked? That makes talents legit.

So skills. Benjamin has skills in cooking, because he has siblings he babysits and they, of course, eat. He's got skills in cooking, some in sewing, cleaning, and other house hold chores. He has those basic skills because he needed them. Is he amazing at them like he is with drawing?

NO! NO NO NO NO! He's decent at them. Why? Well, are you amazing at everything you do?

Didn't think so.

Talents and skills are different. If I made him amazing at drawing, cooking, cleaning and sewing, that would be too many talents and he'd be a gary stu. That's not what we want here. We want that big talent, and some things they are good at.

Now let me tell you, my characters are flaws stitched up with good intentions, as I like to say. I make my characters have more flaws than anything else, because flaws are natural.

Xavier has many flaws. He's loud, he smokes, he drinks, he's blunt, he's shit with his feelings, he locks himself away all day, he's self-destructive, he's mean, he's inappropriate at times, and he's disrespectful.

But, Xavier has good qualities too. He's sweet and helpful, he's polite to ladies, he's understanding and non-judgmental, and he wants to be better, but he finds it difficult.

Sometimes people put tragic backstories as flaws, and no, that's not it. Backstories can cause flaws, many of Xavier's flaws are due to his background. That's okay. That's realistic. Things in the past can affect your future, so hey, it's normal. You cannot let them rule your character though.

**Personalities**

Personalities run with flaws and qualities.

Personalities are hard to explain, so I'll keep it simple, or try to.

Cassius and Benjamin have that very, "Hey, dude! What's up?" personality. They are my people-characters. They are friendly. Extroverts? Not so much, but they do enjoy people.

Xavier and Natalie are my, "kindly fuck off" characters. They are not people-persons, and will never be.

All of my characters are introverts. Does this mean they aren't friendly? No. Introverts can be the life of the party, but they need down time. They need time to themselves to relax and recharge.

So, introvert or extrovert? Does your character need to be with someone always ,or are they fine by themselves?

Personalities can be created when you pick traits. Pick a few traits for your character.

Do you want them to be that cheerful character? Well, how about making them thoughtful, a little naïve, or gullible, loud, etc. Write down traits that remind you of your character. It really does help.

**ETC.**

Now this is messy, but, here's a funny story about Xavier.

He was a girl, years and years ago. When I first made him, he was a girl, named Xavier. This Xavier was a totally different person. She was a cry baby and a scardy cat. She hated being alone and was shy and nervous. My present Xavier has no problem being alone or telling you to 'fuck off'.

What I'm saying is, there's rough drafts for characters. The first go won't always be the only go. You can re-do a character. That's okay. My first Xavier was horrible, but now, I love this Xavier. He's great and you know what? He took me a while to make.

Cassius didn't exist until two years ago, even though Natalie has existed for at least three years. If you read my pokemon story, you might find this odd, because Natalie and Cassius are a pair (they are not a couple. They are platonic like no other). You cannot have one without the other.

Natalie and Cassius are foils. A foil are two characters who are…I suppose, opposites if that makes it easier to get.

To create Cassius, I made him basically the opposite of Natalie. He's outgoing, carefree, doesn't follow rules, and loves the ocean. Natalie is more….mean, blunt, sarcastic, and hates the ocean.

But they fit, because they have similar back grounds. Both worked for evil organizations, and while they are so different, they relate because of that, and because they need each other. They work off each other. Cassius learns to think before he acts, and Natalie learns to be more open and express how she feels more.

If you're going to make two characters, foiling might help you. Now, I'm not saying make them night and day, because Cassius and Natalie aren't like that. They are different, but they have something that connects them. Remember that connection!

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So as I said before this is messy. It was really just supposed to be a quick little fun guide. I figured I'd try and help some of you out and I've always wanted to write one of these because people tend to like my characters (I don't know why they're all assholes).

So if there's anything you want me to go more in depth about, shoot me a pm on here or my tumblr (link on profile) or leave it in the review!

Happy Holidays!


	2. Backstories

**Did yall ask for this? No, not really. **

**Am I putting off homework and writing fanfiction by writing this? Yes, yes I am.**

**If I reference a person I am most likely talking about an OC of mind because examples are important.**

**Sorry if this is short or not that great but I see so many backstories that are too crammed with things and sometimes it's best to leave it simple.**

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This chapter will be on backstories! Of course, it will not be too long, but I feel like backstories sort of deserve their own chapter.

So, a backstory is just that. It's a back story for your character. They're previous events that happened, mostly their childhood, prior to the story you are writing. Back stories tend to often be what defines your character at the _beginning_ of your story and they sometimes hold the 'mission' that your character needs to do (i.e. I need to defeat my parents' killer) or something like that.

Do backstories need to be tragic all the time? No, not at all! Do they need to be interesting? No, not really.

There is nothing wrong with your character growing up in a happy healthy home. They can sometimes disagree and argue with their parents, they can have depression or anxiety, they don't have to have horrible parents and backstories to have issues.

Things I see a lot is the tragic back story, which is fine if you like that, personally I don't. Mostly their parents are dead, which is fine if you like that, but I see it as very over done. Now, of course, if it is needed for your character, do it, but stop and think: 'Will the parents being alive change my story?' if not, maybe you should leave old mom and dad alive. People kill off the parents for horrible and un-needed reasons and I don't know why.

Personally, if you read my stories, I have a thing for characters with divorced parents. I always do it, because I'm a wimp and I don't wanna kill the parents, and also because divorce can be used many ways. You might find divorces (or even just killing one parent, a grandma, a sibling, etc, off) to be a better alternative than killing both parents.

Now, not every divorce is rough. Natalie's parents, for example, had a simple divorce, while not always realistic, is a good go to. The mom hated the dad's job, he wouldn't quit it, they had different parenting techniques, and they both agreed that putting Natalie through the fighting was an awful thing to do. They divorced, and since neither are remarried, they spend holidays together so Natalie doesn't have to choose who to spend Christmas or Thanksgiving or any other Holiday with.

That divorce is a very ideal divorce. An example of a bad divorce would be Xavier's parents. The father wanted his son to do certain things and become a certain person, while the mother believed it was best to let their son choose what he wanted to do in life. Their fighting created more problems for Xavier, which in turn worsened his parents' relationship. The father soon gave up in the relationship, and while the mother tried, it ended in divorce. Both fought for custody, creating stress for Xavier, leading him to turn to alcohol and other things to cope.

I use many different divorces, and it all depends on how you want your characters to turn out. Natalie was not greatly affected by her parents' divorce, while Xavier was greatly affected and it caused him many emotional issues. Divorces also depend on the world you are creating a character for. They can fit in almost any world, as Natalie (Pokemon), Xavier (Ouran), Benjamin (Harry Potter), Grant (Homestuck), and Caspian (Fairy Tail) all have divorced parents.

Like I said I really hate to kill off parents it makes me uncomfortable.

Now, with Caspian, his father left them. With another character, Allen, his father died when he was young and before his parents could marry. I count Caspian's as a divorce, because it is, and Allen's is not, because while he does get a step father, his parents weren't married and nor did they want to split, it was just death had other plans.

Divorces can cause many issues with your characters, and that is up to you to decide what problems. As I stated earlier, Xavier struggles with depression and coping with his issues because of his parents' divorce, and Natalie has no issues from it.

Alright, so, parents. Parents are a big back story plot and, without killing them, or even divorcing them, we can use them as key factors for your characters.

Cassius' parents, while they are far away and his lives with his grandpa due to their job, love him very much and they visit and call as much as possible. This makes Cassius (pokemon) a loving person. He's affectionate and let's his significant other know that he loves them. Is this his entire character? No. He's a criminal that works for Team Aqua. His parents don't affect his character too much. His backstory isn't something that really makes or breaks him.

Grant's father is a lawyer and works most of the time. His father is also a man who is often reserved with how he feels. Grant is often the same way, though it gets more to the point where he doesn't know how to express how he feels, other than his annoyance or anger. He's not good at handling other people because he doesn't interact with others often either. This prevents him from growing and making friends, and he has to overcome it before he be happy.

Allen's stepdad beats him because Allen is gay, and this causes him to be scared of those around him, though he tries to pretend like it doesn't happy and that he's okay. This is a backstory that is often used, and while sometimes it can be cliché, you can do it and make it great.

Parents, while useful, aren't the only things you can use. Try to use siblings, either siblings who bully or siblings who are kind and raise you like their child, aunts, uncles, cousins, and all the works to add some differences to your backstory.

Cassius was raised by his grandpa, Benjamin was raised, up until 7/8, by his grandmother. Both characters learn and pick up on things from this other characters, so utilize old grandpa when you can!

Also, does your character have a big family? Maybe this provides the loving atmosphere for your backstory, or maybe it's a competition for attention. It's all on how you work it, so don't be afraid to get creative!

Now, happy backstory, tragic backstory, either can work, but it's important not to CRAM too much into your character's back story. Do not make it 'oh their parents died, they were left on the streets, they were raped, they had to fight for survival, they found their long lost twin, blah blah blah'. No, that's way too much, and honestly, in most worlds, is just stupid.

Try to avoid clichés like that. Just because everything horrible CAN happen to your oc, doesn't mean it SHOULD.

Also, please remember, back stories, while add to your character, do not define them. Your character needs to grow and move on from their past, and they should not continue to fall back onto it.

Your backstory doesn't have to be important, it can be plain like Cassius', or it can be the cause of many of your character's issues, like Xavier. There's an endless list of possibilities, but make sure your backstory fits the world you're making your character for, and more importantly the character you are making.


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